Archive for the ‘TWL Utiel Requena’Category

Our previous posts on D.O. Utiel Requena (see here) have concentrated on wines of the indigenous Bobal grape. Finca San Blas (fincasanblas.com) in Requena makes a well-regarded 100 percent Bobal. But the bodega also has extensive vineyards planted in Merlot, Tempranillo, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Chardonnay. Its 2014 Lomalta blends 40 percent Bobal with 30 percent each of Merlot and Tempranillo. The resulting wine is a world apart from the black cherry and resinous spice profile of traditional Bobal.

The Bobal characteristics are largely overshadowed by the other two grapes. We had to double-check the label to make sure it wasn’t an experimental bottling from Rioja, which has had a love affair with French grapes for 150 years. The nose has the pronounced hot-climate menthol of Merlot, and the fruitiness in the mouth confirms the Merlot parentage. But the back of the mouth flavors and finish are pure Tempranillo. The three grapes are all vinified separately, aged separately in new French oak for nine months, and blended just three months before bottling. That approach keeps the grape characteristics quite individual, but it poses a challenge for pairing with food.

Finding the right food

We wondered if Lomalta might be a tapas bar wine—served by the well-aerated glass with small bites of spicy food. Having recently acquired Barbecue Sauces, Rubs, and Marinades—Bastes, Butters, and Glazes, Too! by grilling guru Steven Raichlen (Workman Publishing, $17.95), we decided to try his “pincho powder” seasoning as a rub for skewers of pork. And since the rub is fairly hot (use it sparingly if you have a sensitive mouth), we figured the best cooling companion would be a salad of watermelon cubes tossed with crumbled feta, chopped mint, and a lime-olive oil dressing.

Our intuition about the wine proved correct. The smoky paprika-saffron-coriander-cumin combo knit the grapes of the wine together into a single, more subtle quaff. The roundness of the Bobal and Merlot softened the heat of the rub, and the spices married well with the Tempranillo’s aromatics and the bite of oak. It was as if the food switched on a light, and the wine woke up to its potential. With the publisher’s permission, here’s the recipe for Raichlen’s Spanish-style rub.

30

07 2017

Regular readers know we’ve been doing a survey of Bobal wines from the Utiel Requena region of Valencia. As we contemplated a dish to eat with the 2013 “Finca La Beata Bobal” from Dominio de la Vega (dominiodelavega.com), we faced a quandary. The sheer weight of the bottle signaled a Very Important Wine. (Empty, it clocks in at 1.2 kg/2.7 lb.) When it arrived at our door, the weather was cold and dank; now it’s hot and steamy. Based on the other Bobal wines, we suspected that it would cry out for very beefy beef.

But steamy summer is not the time for rabo de toro, the classic Spanish braise of oxtail. Then we remembered that Andalucían superchef Dani García used oxtail in the scrumptious burgers that we loved to eat at the bar of now-shuttered Manzanilla in Málaga (at right). These days the burgers at Bibo in Marbella and Madrid (www.grupodanigarcia.com/en) are made with aged beef loin. We look forward to trying them.

We always suspected that García’s rabo de toro burger was a mixed grind of oxtail and some part of the shoulder clod, since Spanish beef is often too lean to make good burger. So we followed suit with a rough mix of about 60 percent blade steak (part of the chuck muscles) and 40 percent oxtail meat. It was a perfect match for the big red wine. For a side, we figured a Catalan-style potato salad made with garlicky alioli would do the trick. Directions for making both are below. But first, more about the wine.

Pure concentration of old Bobal

Dominio de la Vega makes a lot of cavas that help pay the bills. But winemaker Daniel Expósito is a true believer in the potential of Bobal. He makes three wines entirely from the grape. Dominio de la Vega’s signature is the single-vineyard “Finca La Beata Bobal.” In 2013 (the current release), Expósito made just 3,000 bottles. The winery owns 60ha (150 acres) of vineyards, but the Finca La Beata concentrates the oldest Bobal vines—most more than a century. The vineyard workers keep the bush-style vines pruned to produce only a kilo of grapes each.

Given the natural softness of Bobal’s tannins, Expósito does everything he can to extract maximum structure in the wine-making. The hand-harvested and hand-sorted grapes macerate in 700 liter barrels for at least three weeks. They are stirred by hand to express the skins gently and tasted daily until judged to have the optimal skin extraction. The wine is transferred to French oak barriques (225 liters) for a malolactic fermentaton. It is then finished for 18 months in mild new French oak before bottling in those massive pieces of glass.

The results are spectacular. Poured into the glass, it sparkles with a deep black cherry redness with violet tinges at the surface. The nose is full of warm cinnamon and resinous Mediterranean scrub—especially lavender and rosemary. In the mouth, Finca la Beata drinks with silky smooth tannins and bright notes of cherry and red raspberry. The finish is a little short for such a delicious quaff, but there are just enough tannins to provide a grip on the tongue and back of the throat. It’s a spicy, elegant example of a “big” Bobal—just right for the beefiness of an oxtail burger.

OXTAIL BURGERS

Ingredients

Directions

Start at least two hours ahead. Using a sharp-pointed filet knife, remove exterior fat from the oxtails and discard. Working carefully, remove meat and tendons from oxtail and reserve. Cut out the gristle that runs up through the middle of the blade steaks and cut into pieces the same size as oxtail meat.

Spread the meat pieces on a baking sheet and place in freezer for about 30 minutes. Grind with a meat grinder (we use an old fashioned hand-crank variety), passing first through the coarse holes, then regrinding through the finer plate. You should have about a pound and a half of premium ground beef. Using a scale, divide into four equal piles. Gently shape each pile into a patty. Sprinkle with kosher salt and coarse black pepper. Grill over hardwood charcoal, only turning once. Move burgers off direct flame and top with cheese. Close grill for 60 seconds to melt cheese. Remove burgers to a warm holding plate.

BASIC ALIOLI

Ingredients

Directions

Add egg yolks, garlic, salt, and water to a metal bowl. Whisk together until well-blended. Slowly drizzle in oil, a few teaspoons at a time, while continuing to whisk. Continue until oil is incorporated. Add cayenne and lemon juice and whisk smooth. This basic alioli is often further seasoned with smoky Spanish paprika and a few grinds of black pepper.

23

06 2017

As we work our way through some exciting wines from D.O. Utiel Requena in Valencia, Spain, we were pleased to try the flagship red from Bodegas Vibe called Venusto. Early in 2015, this new winery took over the land and facilities from a previous winery heavily invested in international grapes. Winemaker Juan Carlos Garcia changed that focus immediately. His attention is riveted on Tardana, a local white grape, and Bobal, the red signature of the D.O. Judging by the 2015 Venusto, Garcia found the sweet spot with his first release. He is making an intense, spicy, well-structured Bobal that is extremely food-friendly.

Fermented on the skins for four days to pick up saturated color, it pours as deep black cherry liquid with a nice viscosity that displays long legs in the glass. The red clay soils (right) in which these vines were planted in 1960 provide a haunting spiciness to a wine rich in fruit. The nose is a mix of strawberry and black cherry with herbal mint notes. In the mouth, dark anise flavors fill out the palate. Despite four months in American oak, Venusto is blessedly free of the strong vanillin aroma and green astringency that so many soft reds pick up as a bad habit from their American cousins. Tannins are soft and round, and the finish lingers with fresh notes of mint, anise and cherry. Garcia has achieved a lovely balance of Bobal fruit with freshness and structure.

Last we heard, Bodegas Vibe (www.bodegasvibe.com; tel +34 653 964 158) was looking for American distribution. Venusto would make a spectacular red for many restaurants. We found it especially nice with a salad of garden lettuce, roasted and sliced red peppers, and about a quarter pound of medium-rare boneless ribeye per person cut matchstick size. Dress with this very garlicky dressing that is somewhere between a Caesar and Catalan-style aioli.

16

06 2017

The Viticultores de SanJuan bodega is owned by the Valsangiacomo family (above), which represents the fifth generation of family winemaking that began in Switzerland in 1831. Built in 1960, the winery in the village of San Juan Bautista, about 60 kilometers west of Valencia, Spain. The vines range from 60 to 80 years old.

Since there was always a market for blending wines and grape concentrate, traditional growers in the Utiel Requena region never had reason to rip out their old Bobal vines. Vineyards tend to be broad pieces of open acreage supporting bush-style vines grown without irrigation. As the region began to focus more on quality of grapes rather than quantity through the DOP Utiel-Requna, these ancient vines (right) proved a huge asset. The gnarly trunks still support a shady canopy of big leaves that protect the grape bunches.

The SanJuan winery is as old-school as the vines. The Valsangiacomos craft their Bobal red and rosé in raw concrete tanks, then age the wines in large barrels of French oak. Their straightforward Bobal de SanJuan is a prime example of letting old vines do their thing. It is is a medium-bodied, deeply red wine with a spicy nose of anise and black pepper. In the mouth, the juicy fruit suggests black cherry, red currant, and dark plums. Tannins are extremely soft, so the wine finishes very smoothly. It is perfect slightly chilled to about 60°F.

The spiciness of the nose and the tart cherry in the mouth make Bobal de SanJuan an excellent accompaniment to this traditional paella of inland Valencia province, very loosely adapted from Anna von Bremzen’s The New Spanish Table and Penelope Casas’ The Foods and Wines of Spain.

05

06 2017

We’re convinced that there is nothing like taste to evoke memories of place. A sip of wine will call back the flavor of the food, the sun on our faces, the wobbly leg of the cafe table, and the street life around us. We’re just starting to taste several wines from the Utiel Requena region in the northwest corner of the autonomous region of Valencia. As we taste, we’re reliving trips to Catalunya, Aragón, Valencia, and the Balearic Islands. In addition to speaking variants of Catalan, these regions feature cuisines that pair very well with the Bobal wines of Utiel Requena. We’ll be enjoying them with some of our favorite dishes.

As shown in this photo just below, D.O. Utiel Requena sits in the rain shadow of mountains, so the region is dry and perfectly suited to organic growing. Most of the producers do grow organically, and they concentrate on the Bobal grape. That’s an indigenous red varietal found almost nowhere else—a great local grape for the cuisine. Historically, Bobal was overcropped and used for blending with wine from other Spanish regions. In the last generation, though, producers have taken advantage of the old vines—most on their own rootstock—to make wines with fabulous concentration and well-defined character.

A Bobal rosé—in this case Tarantas—makes a great complement to one of our favorite bar foods, coca, which is pizza-like flatbread topped primarily with red peppers. The lightly sparkling wine made entirely from Bobal has a strawberry nose and tangy red-currant and melon flavors in the mouth. The producer of Tarantas wines is Bodegas Iranzo (www.bodegasiranzo.com), a family concern that has been making wine in the region since 1335! The pronounced fruit of the rosé brings out the herbaceous quality of the pepper while emphasizing the caramel notes from cooking.

Barcelona’s best patio

We first tasted coca at an outdoor cafe table at La Vinya del Senyor, the wine bar that shares a plaza with the Basilica de Santa Maria del Mar. Pat wrote about it in her new book 100 Places in Spain Every Woman Should Go. The photo at the top of this post shows some folks having a good time—and a bottle of wine (of course).

Funded and even partially built by the people of the neighborhood, Santa Maria del Mar (at right) was consecrated in 1384 and remains a perfect example of Catalan Gothic style. Its serene interior and popular appeal make it a favorite for society weddings. We spent a magical evening watching a bride and groom enter the church single and leave as a couple. They lingered in the plaza, surrounded by their boisterous friends, a group of street musicians, and a churlish taxi driver blasting his horn as he tried to no avail to break up the revelry.

We’re not the only ones who are in love with this wine bar. In her cookbook The New Spanish Table, Anya von Bremzen sings the praises of the bar’s coca. We have adapted her recipe below.

COCA MALLORQUINA

Von Bremzen’s version is more purist, eschewing the cheese that makes a coca seem more like a pizza. But we like the small specks of jamón serrano and creaminess of melted Mahon, a Mallorcan semisoft cheese. The defining characteristic is the topping of slightly caramelized sweet red peppers. Use your favorite pizza dough recipe, but be sure to oil the pan and oil the surface of the dough. If you don’t have a favorite home recipe, see ours here: hungrytravelers.com/black-truffle-pizza-tricks.